Dump box control lever



Feb. 2, 1954 D. WEBSTER DUMP BOX CONTROL LEVER 2 Sheets-She'et 1 Filed Feb. 19, 1951 Fig.

Feb. 2, 1954 L. D. WEBSTER DUMP BOX CONTROL LEVER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 19, 1951 Lawrence D. Webster INVENTOR. 401 32 BY gmE/wh Patented Feb. 2, 1 954 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE DUMP BOXCON'EROL Lawrence D'. Webster, Livonia, N. Y:

ApplicationaFebmary 19, 1951,.Seriai .No;--211,73&

, 2 Claims. I p This inventioniswcomprised-of novel and useful improvements in control levers, and: more. particularly pertains to a lever. for controlling the operation of a: hydraulic dump. box raising mechanism.

When utilizing,- the dump box of a truck to spread aggregate over an oiled surface, in. the

' construction of roads or the like, it; is necessary that, the. dump box of the. truck be gradually raised thetruck is. backed. over the surface to be; covered; At present, it is customary to position the dump box control. levers near the center portion of the. truck cab, which construction precludes. the. truck operator from simultaneously watching where he is. backing, while he manipulates the dumpboxcontrollevers to maintain the box: at the proper elevation; It is accordingly animportantobject of this. invention to provide alever assembly which maybe mounted on conventional trucks to enable the dump box to be controlled from the side of the truck, cab 80 that it may be. moreeasily manipulated by the driver while operating the truck, or when standing alongside the truck. and assisting. in the loading of. machinery; which assembly, by virtue of its placement on. the. side. of the truck cab, increases the usable floor space in the: cab; and which assembly will not necessitate any materialalterations in. the, conventional. construction of. the.

trucks. or the dump box lifting mechanism.

Another important. object of this invention is toprcv-ide-a dump box control lever assembly, in accordance. with: the; foregoing object, in which asingle-lever is manipulable to control the power take-off to the pump, and to also control the hydraulic valve which regulates the flow ofv fuel from the pumpto the hoist cylinder;

A. further object. of this. invention is to provide alever control assembly, constructed in accordance with the foregoing. objects, in which the single lever is so. constructed and. arranged relative to the power take-off control arm and. the valve control arm,. that the. valve. will be moved into a position. to recirculate the fluid in the pump whenever the power take-off lever is moved into; its power engaging position, so that the pump will. be under substantially no load. when ever it is being driving'ly connected, to. a source of power. v 7

An important. feature of this invention. resides in. the provision of inner. andouter concentric shafts, control arms carried by one end of each shaft. and movable in relatively parallel planes, withfa. control level rotatably mounted on one shaft between. the control arms, and with. a mechanism carried by the control lever for selec- 2. tively locking. either-of: the; control arms: to the controlleverfor movementtherewith.

Another importantv feature; of this; invention resides in the provision of al controllever assem'ebly, constructed in. accordance: with. the tore.- going feature, with a journal rotatably supporting the end of the. outer shaft remote from the: end thereof which. has the control arm attached. thereto, with an actuating arm: attached. tothe inner shaft in abutting; engagement.- witlt the journal and the; adjacent end of. the-outer shaft. whereby the control arms on the remote. ends cf the shafts are maintained, in a predetermined spaced relation- Yet a. further feature; of this. invention resides in the provision of a. control lever assembly, in accordance with theforegoing features. in which the lock mechanism on the control, lever includes a member slidable longitudinally of the lever and having ears. projecting. laterally from opposite sides thereof, which ears are: movable. with. the member to engage corresponding lugs on either of the control. arms to lock eitherv of the arms; to the lever, from movement therewith, together with a projection on onev of. the lugs: which 15150 constructed as to cause the: arm to which: itisv attached to move'in one direction-with the-controL lever whenever the. latter is lockedto the other of thecontrolarmsp These, together with. various ancillary; obiects; and features? are attained. by this device a preferred embodiment of whichhasbeen; illustrated in the accompanying drawingawherein:

Figure-l is a fragmentary side-elevationalview of a dump truck, parts being broken awayeand' shown. in section toillustratea the construction of the-hoist mechanism;.

Figure 2: is a fragmentary plan view or the dump truck, with the cab and dumpbox removed lockin'g the lever to. either of the control. arms and by the frame members 28, which rails are connected by suitable cross beams 22. A hydraulic cylinder 24 is vertically pivotally attached, as at 26, to one of the transverse beams 22, which cylinder has a piston 28 movably mounted therein, and operatively connected by a rod .38 to a The dump box lifting assembly, includes a fluid pump 32 which is connected to a' dump box I2.

control valve 34 and by conduits 36 and 38 to the forward and rear ends, respectively, of the hydraulic cylinder 24. As diagrammatically shown in Figure 6, the pump 32 is connected to the valve 34, by conduits 48 and 42 which respectively communicate with the inlet and outlet ports of the pumps, but in actual construction, the pump and valve are formed in the same housing, as is shown in Figures land 2. The valve 34, in the position shown in Figure 6, communicates the conduits 48 and 42 with each other, and consequently fluid is merely recirculated in the pump, the valve when in that position, further serving to close communication between the conduit 38, and the rest of the system whereby the piston 28 will be prevented from moving toward the left, as viewed in Figure 6. As the piston 28 will be maintained in its predetermined adjusted position, when the valve is in the position shown in Figure 6, this position is termed the hold position of the valve member. The valve member is also rotatable in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 6, into its raise position, at which time the conduit 42 is communicated with the conduit 36, the valve being movable into a third position, substantially one-quarter turn counter-clockwise, as viewed in Figure 6, at which time the conduit 36 is communicated with the conduit 48, to permit the piston to move toward the left. When the valve 34 is in its last mentioned lower position, the discharge from the pump 32 passes through the conduit 42, and through the pressure relief valve 44, back through the'conduit 48, to the pump. A lever 46 is operatively connected to the valve 34, for movement about the same axis as that about which the valve rotates, which lever is movable, as indicated by the legend in Figure 3, from its hold position into an intermediate raise position or into its extreme lower position.

A power take-off assembly 48, which is carried by the side of the transmission 58 is connected by a drive shaft 52, and flexible couplings 54, to the pump 32. A lever 56 is operatively connected to the power take-off" 48, so as to selectively connect and disconnect the power take-01f from the vehicle transmission 58. With the lever 56, in the position shown in Figure 3, the power take-01f is drivingly engaged with the transmission, and when the lever 56 is pivoted in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 3, the power take-off is operatively disconnected from the transmission.

The lever assembly I6 which is provided to control the power take-off 48 and the valve 34, includes inner and outer concentric shafts 58 and 68 respectively, the outer shaft 58 being rotatably 4 supported by first and second journals 62 and 66 carried by the floor board 64 of the truck I8. A valve control arm 68 is non-rotatably attached to the end of the outer shaft 68 adjacent the journal 38 and a power take-01f control arm 78 is non-rotatably attached to the inner shaft 58, and is disposed in parallel spaced relation to the valve control arm. A control lever I2 is pivotally attached to the inner shaft 58, between the control arms 68 and I8, and has a guide block 14 longitudinally slidably mounted thereon. An ear I6 projects laterally of one side of the block I4, adjacent one end thereof and is movable so as to be selectively receivable in the recess I8 in the lug 88 carried by the power take-off control arm I8. A lip 82 projects laterally from the opposite .of the guide block '14, adjacent the end thereof remote from that from which the ear I8 projects, which car is movable into and out of the recess 84 in the end of the valve control arm 68 and a guide finger 83' is carried by the ear for guiding engagement with the control arm 68. As will be appreciated, movement of the block 14 in a direction away from the shafts 58 and 68 will cause the ear I6 to move into the recess I8 in the lug 88, to thereby lock the power take-off control arm I8 to the lever 12, for movement with the latter. Movement of the block I4, in the opposite direction, will cause the lip 82 to move into therecess 84 in the valve control lever 68, to lock the latter arm to the lever I2. It is contemplated that when one of the arms is locked to the control lever, that the other arm be operatively disengaged therefrom. However, for reasons which will later become apparent as the following description proceeds, the valve control arm 68 is provided with a projection 86 which underlies the lip 82, even when the block 74 is moved so as to lock the power take-01f control arm to the lever I2. Thus, whenever the control lever "I2 is moved downward, Or in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figures 1 and 3, the valve control arm 68 will be moved downward when the control lever 72 is locked to the power take-01f arm I0. but the valve control arm 68 is nevertheless movable with the lever 12 independent of the power take-off control arm 18. A spring 88 is terminallyattached to the block 14, as at 88 and to the lever I2, as at 92, so as to yieldingly urge the lip 82 into the recess 84 in the valve controlarm 68. A rod 94 is attached to the block I4, as at 96, and otherwise attached to the pivotally mounted finger 98, which is carried by the lever 12, which finger is movable to urge the block in a direction to cause the ear 16 to lockingly engage the power take-off control arm 18. 7 A power take-01f actuating arm !88 is secured to the end of the inner shaft 58, remote fromthe end to which the control arm 18 is attached, which actuating arm abuts the first journal 62 and the adjacent end of the outer shaft to there by limit movement of the control arms 88 and 18, away from each other. The arm I88 is 0011? nected by a link I82 to the lever 56, as is best shown in Figure 3, whereby vertical pivotal movement of the control lever 12, with the finger 98 released, Will cause the power take-off .to' be engaged and disengaged.

An L-shaped valve actuating member I84 has one leg I88 secured to the reinforcing bars I88 which are carried by the'outer shaft, the'other leg I I 8 extending transversely of the outer shaft, and movable therewith in an are which parallels the path of movement of the'actuating arm I88. The valve actuating member orarm I84 is connected by a link I12 to the valve control lever 46, whereby the valve is also selectively moved into its hold," raise, or lower positions, in response to vertical pivotal movement of the control lever 12.

In operating the lever assembly It, the control lever 12 is first elevated into the dotted line position shown. at H4, in Figure 3, with the finger 93 depressed so as to move the lip 82 out of the recess 84 in the valve control arm 99. The power take-off control arm it, which is positioned at an angle to the horizontal when in its disengaged position, is then engaged by the ear 16 which is receivable in the recess 78 in the lug 80, and the lever 12 then depressed into the horizontal position shown in Figure 3, to engage the power take-01f, and establish driving connection between the pump 32 and th transmission 59. The lever 12 is then raised, with the finger 93 released, so that the lip 82 lockingly engages the valve control arm 66, and the lever and valve control arm then move to the raise position indicated at H6, in Figure 3. As indicated the legend in Figure 3, further raising of the lever E2 to the position shown at H8, which is the lower position of th lever will cause the valve lever 46 to rotate the valve 34 into a position in which the conduits 3B and 40 are communicated with each other, and the discharge of the pump 42 bypassed through the valve 44.

As it is obviously undesirable to have the power take-oil moved into driving engagement when the valve is positioned so as to place a. load upon the pump, there has been provided a projection 86 on the valve control arm, which moves the latter into its hold position whenever the control lever 12 is moved downward, to move the power take-off lever into its engage power position.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that there has been provided a single controllever 12 which is manipulable to control both the power take-off and the valve of the hydraulic hoist, and which lever is so constructed as to prevent engaging of the power take-off when the valve is in a position to cause the pump to do work, when the latter is driven. As it is believed that the operation and construction of the device will be readily understood from the foregoing, further description is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoing specification and accompanying drawing, it is not intended to limit the invention to that shown and described, but all suitable modifications may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A control for a power lift dump box comprising inner and outer concentric shafts, first and second journals rotatably supporting the ends of said outer shaft, a control arm 11011-2 rotatably attached to each of said inner and outer shafts adjacent the ends thereof remote from said first journal, a control lever rotatably mounted on one of said shafts for movement in opposite directions respectively, means on said control lever for selectively locking said lever to either of said control arms in one direction only of movement of said lever and with both of said control arms in the other direction only of movement of said lever, and actuating arms attached to the ends of said shafts adjacent said first journal and adapted to control a valve and a pump associated with the power lift of the dump, box.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said means for locking said lever to either of said control arms includes a member longitudinally slidably mounted on said lever for manual movement upwardly and downwardly respectively, ears projecting laterally from opposit sides of said member, and spring mean connected to said lever and member urging said member downwardly, said control arms each having a recess therein into one of which one of said cars is moved by downward movement of said member and into the other of which the other ear is moved by upward movement of said member.

LAWRENCE D. WEBSTER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 804,971 Packard Nov. 21, 1905 1,135,737 Stevens Apr. 13, 1915 1,160,259 Cassidy Nov. 16, 1915 1,269,581 Daimler June 18, 1918 1,401,093 McDaniels Dec. 20, 1921 1,635,953 Roth July 12, 1927 2,292,091 Rhodes Aug. 4, 1942 2,369,694 Trippensee Feb. 20, 1945 2,408,098 Schon Sept. 24, 1946 2,419,908 Mott Apr. 29, 1947 2,501,661 Christensen Mar. 28, 1950 

